Gorgeous weekend behind us?

BigBadLou

BigBadLou

Final Approach
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Lou
Not many new posts over the last weekend. I assume it is due to the gorgeous fall we are having pretty much all across the whole US where many of us went flying instead of sitting in front of the monitor, posting on PoA? More power to us! :)

If you went flying last weekend, care to post a picture?
And I know I'm flying this coming weekend. Wife requested that I book a room at Jay's hotel on the Mustang Island (KRAS) and take her there. Wife asking me to fly her to the beach, what more could I ask for? :)
 
I didn't take any pictures unfortunately. :(

We've been having some great flying Wx these past few weeks in SE Tennessee.
 
If you say last weekend was gorgeous, you obviously didn't look at the weather on the west coast...
 
We have had the most spectacular fall weather in South Texas! Perfect, in every way.

This was taken over the island chain a few days ago, on our way back from Houston.

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Flew MS to Florida this weekend in the cherokee for some relaxation. Had some weather on the return with some imc time. Dang I really like imc!

Wanted to hit up Gastons but already had Florida plans. Hopefully next year.

This weekend hitting up SERFI in South Alabama. Love October weather!
 

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Flew my RV-8 around town and along the Front Range. It was glorious. Here's Denver from the southwest corner of town.

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Homes along the foothills.

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Boulder Municipal Airport (KBDE), with the Flatirons in the background.

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Coors brewery.

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Flyby of the Flatirons.

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Great time of the year to fly!
 
Good pics Colojo. Boulder is on my short list to fly up to now I know what it looks like, I appreciate it. I've got family in that area that I've been meaning to see.

I don't see a "Rocky Mountain stream" next to the brewery.
 
I flew to the edge of the marine layer last Wednesday along the coastal side of Saddleback. Was going to go to Camarillo for lunch (socked in); instead, I went to the usual French Valley haunt.

 
mtuomi said:
If you say last weekend was gorgeous, you obviously didn't look at the weather on the west coast...
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A. I quantified my statement with "pretty much all across the whole US" which allows room for exceptions.
B. Who cares about California anymore? Aren't we all just waiting for "The Big One" where the whole state falls into the ocean or at least gets separated (and forms another country)? :D

Keep the pictures coming, guys!!
 
BigBadLou said:
This "brewery" feeds into the Coors Light, Bud Light and Keystone Light filling facilities, right? :D
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Yes. Though the PBR canning facility does in fact feed off the stream next to the Coors factory. They can the water directly and call it beer.
 
Most of us "cool kids" who went to Gaston's had to get there by automobile because the weather on Thursday and Friday was abysmal. It was Gaston's drive in this year. I think only 6 airplanes were able to make it.
 
Yea, not so gorgeous in our neck of the woods. The Sierra Nevada's and Pacific Northwest got hammered this weekend by the remnants of Typhoon Songda.

This was Friday in Reno:
Valid: October 14, 2016 at 5:00 AM - October 15, 2016 at 5:00 AM
From 5:00 AM: Wind 160° at 30 gusting to 45 kt, Visibility greater than 6 sm, Scattered 9000', Broken 15000', Wind Shear at 1500' from 240 (WSW) at 60 kt (VFR)
From 11:00 AM: Wind 220° at 26 gusting to 40 kt, Visibility greater than 6 sm, Light Rain Showers, Broken 6000', Overcast 9000' (VFR)
From 7:00 PM: Wind 200° at 12 gusting to 22 kt, Visibility greater than 6 sm, Few 6000', Broken 9000' (VFR)

This was Saturday:
Valid: October 15, 2016 at 5:00 AM - October 16, 2016 at 5:00 AM
From 5:00 AM: Wind 190° at 18 gusting to 30 kt, Visibility greater than 6 sm, Few 6000', Scattered 10000', Wind Shear at 1000' from 240 (WSW) at 45 kt (VFR)
From 9:00 AM: Wind 160° at 25 gusting to 40 kt, Visibility greater than 6 sm, Few 6000', Scattered 10000', Wind Shear at 1000' from 240 (WSW) at 55 kt (VFR)
From 2:00 PM: Wind 170° at 38 gusting to 49 kt, Visibility greater than 6 sm, Scattered 5000', Broken 10000', Wind Shear at 1000' from 240 (WSW) at 65 kt (VFR)
From 8:00 PM: Wind 190° at 22 gusting to 34 kt, Visibility 5 sm, Rain, Mist, Scattered 2800', Overcast 4000', Wind Shear at 1500' from 240 (WSW) at 55 kt (VFR)

Someone tried to cross the Sierra's Saturday night South of Lake Tahoe in a C182D. Search crews still haven't found the pilot or plane.... :(

http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/article108702672.html

Glad someone had fun this weekend though.

Brian
 
45-65 kt shear shouldn't be VFR.....

I mean... I get that it is. But it is effing dangerous to be out playing around in that.
 
On Saturday, I drove to a seaplane splash-in at Lake Hickory, NC. Enjoyed seeing a few different seaplanes. Really increased my desire to buy one.
 
Don't have any photos of the flight yet, but I did my first ever formation flying (as non-lead) in the Twin Beech on Saturday on the way to the Beech Party breakfast at BGF Saturday. Fun stuff!
 

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flight2000 said:
Yea, not so gorgeous in our neck of the woods. The Sierra Nevada's and Pacific Northwest got hammered this weekend by the remnants of Typhoon Songda.

This was Friday in Reno:
Valid: October 14, 2016 at 5:00 AM - October 15, 2016 at 5:00 AM
From 5:00 AM: Wind 160° at 30 gusting to 45 kt, Visibility greater than 6 sm, Scattered 9000', Broken 15000', Wind Shear at 1500' from 240 (WSW) at 60 kt (VFR)
From 11:00 AM: Wind 220° at 26 gusting to 40 kt, Visibility greater than 6 sm, Light Rain Showers, Broken 6000', Overcast 9000' (VFR)
From 7:00 PM: Wind 200° at 12 gusting to 22 kt, Visibility greater than 6 sm, Few 6000', Broken 9000' (VFR)

This was Saturday:
Valid: October 15, 2016 at 5:00 AM - October 16, 2016 at 5:00 AM
From 5:00 AM: Wind 190° at 18 gusting to 30 kt, Visibility greater than 6 sm, Few 6000', Scattered 10000', Wind Shear at 1000' from 240 (WSW) at 45 kt (VFR)
From 9:00 AM: Wind 160° at 25 gusting to 40 kt, Visibility greater than 6 sm, Few 6000', Scattered 10000', Wind Shear at 1000' from 240 (WSW) at 55 kt (VFR)
From 2:00 PM: Wind 170° at 38 gusting to 49 kt, Visibility greater than 6 sm, Scattered 5000', Broken 10000', Wind Shear at 1000' from 240 (WSW) at 65 kt (VFR)
From 8:00 PM: Wind 190° at 22 gusting to 34 kt, Visibility 5 sm, Rain, Mist, Scattered 2800', Overcast 4000', Wind Shear at 1500' from 240 (WSW) at 55 kt (VFR)

Someone tried to cross the Sierra's Saturday night South of Lake Tahoe in a C182D. Search crews still haven't found the pilot or plane.... :(

http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/article108702672.html

Glad someone had fun this weekend though.

Brian
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Yup, I may be searching for that plane tomorrow.

I can't believe anyone in a 182 would try to cross that terrain in those conditions. KTVL was reporting wind gusting to 40 knots, and Echo Summit probably would have been twice that. And there were clouds, unstable air, and probably severe turbulence and ice. Peaks are just over 10,000 and the last known position is over the highest terrain.

Assuming that guy survived the crash (which I doubt), he spent two nights in near freezing conditions with crappy weather. We couldn't launch until today because the weather was just too nasty. Today's crews haven't been able to see much either as there are still a lot of clouds.

I don't think it's that likely we'll find him unless he lit the forest on fire. But we have to look on the off chance he might have survived. We got surprised a few years ago once, when a guy had a prop separate near Mt. Whitney above the tree line and he survived and has made a complete recovery.

Closer to home, we had 9.5 inches of rain over the weekend. This was not a light storm.
 
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ircphoenix said:
The marine layer sucks when you aren't IR. LoL
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I hear you. That's partly why I decided to get a hangar a little farther inland. When the weather's iffy I go to French Valley a lot...the corridor following I-15 on the other side of Saddleback, over Corona, Norco, Lake Elsinore, etc., can be clear when just about everywhere else is marginal to unflyable.
 
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MAKG1 said:
Yup, I may be searching for that plane tomorrow.

I can't believe anyone in a 182 would try to cross that terrain in those conditions. KTVL was reporting wind gusting to 40 knots, and Echo Summit probably would have been twice that. And there were clouds, unstable air, and probably severe turbulence and ice. Peaks are just over 10,000 and the last known position is over the highest terrain.

Assuming that guy survived the crash (which I doubt), he spent two nights in near freezing conditions with crappy weather. We couldn't launch until today because the weather was just too nasty. Today's crews haven't been able to see much either as there are still a lot of clouds.

I don't think it's that likely we'll find him unless he lit the forest on fire. But we have to look on the off chance he might have survived. We got surprised a few years ago once, when a guy had a prop separate near Mt. Whitney above the tree line and he survived and has made a complete recovery.

Closer to home, we had 9.5 inches of rain over the weekend. This was not a light storm.
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I read that story in complete disbelief. I'm sorry, but it is sheer lunacy to even consider crossing those mountains in that weather. Any sane person would have avoided flying in weather like this weekend over flatland, but to cross the Sierra... I just... Lost for words. Maybe he wanted to win the Darwin Award.
 
Utilitarian but efficient trip to motherinlaw's 81st; beyond benign weather - only hiccup was the fuel pump wait on the way out (yes I declined spouse's suggestion to fillup upon arrival).
West Texas to Hill country 300nm
 
I just made a short local flight. There is a new 'solar farm' installation about 5 miles west of town I wanted to check out. It is huge!
 

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mtuomi said:
I read that story in complete disbelief. I'm sorry, but it is sheer lunacy to even consider crossing those mountains in that weather. Any sane person would have avoided flying in weather like this weekend over flatland, but to cross the Sierra... I just... Lost for words. Maybe he wanted to win the Darwin Award.
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You're not the only one having trouble grasping how someone could do that.

I read the METARs as soon as I heard -- and my reaction was "No. FN. Way."

And the turbulence on the east side must have been stomach-wrenching. How could someone press on like that? Too scared to land at Reno or Carson? That's reasonable; 30+ knot winds with gusts and wind shear are not for the faint of heart. Then, turn around. It will be worse at 12,000.
 
Didn't fly as I'm still grounded, but did something *almost* as fun. The attached pic was taken Saturday on Mt. Mansfield. (Yes, there is a toll road that goes most of the way, but it's not worth $22 and anyway, getting up there under your own power is a LOT more fun.)

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While weather was kind of ok on Saturday in Michigan, I was out sick... :(:confused::( Well, there are more weekends and evenings to come. The good thing about winter is, that you don't have to worry much about your night currency... :) We usually do a lot of sunset flying around this time of the year.
 
Fearless Tower said:
Is Coors still the #1 polluter in the state of CO?
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Never heard they ever were, but I seriously wouldn't believe they could possibly be worse than the Feds at Rocky Flats, or the coal-based utilities.

Heck the cleanup at the local refinery is still ongoing and will continue for a decade or two from a spill of some nasty stuff that keeps leaching into the creek below the place.

If we really want to get pedantic, I bet United, Southwest, and all the kids at DIA are worse than any brewery.

What's the criteria and cite for the '#1' rating? Just never seen that mentioned around here...
 
denverpilot said:
Never heard they ever were, but I seriously wouldn't believe they could possibly be worse than the Feds at Rocky Flats, or the coal-based utilities.
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Back when I was at Colorado State in the early 90s Coors was taking some huge flak for the amount of toxic crap they were dumping in the river.

They may not have been #1, but for a state full of granola eating, Birkenstock wearing tree huggers, it was big news at the time.

It was ironic at the time since Coors was pushing the whole idea of brewing beer from cool, clear Rocky Mountain stream water.....while they trashed that same water.
 
Fearless Tower said:
Back when I was at Colorado State in the early 90s Coors was taking some huge flak for the amount of toxic crap they were dumping in the river.

They may not have been #1, but for a state full of granola eating, Birkenstock wearing tree huggers, it was big news at the time.

It was ironic at the time since Coors was pushing the whole idea of brewing beer from cool, clear Rocky Mountain stream water.....while they trashed that same water.
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To be fair, the water they were polluting was downstream outflow water. The upstream intake water was still as pure as the driven snow.
 
We had 20G40 all weekend from that storm in the NW. Some reports in the valley this morning with gusts over 50knts. So the gliders were grounded. This was supposed to be our Lake Bed weekend with auto tow (ground launch training) and camping. Dry lakes are not a place to be with winds like that. :(
 
Fearless Tower said:
Back when I was at Colorado State in the early 90s Coors was taking some huge flak for the amount of toxic crap they were dumping in the river.

They may not have been #1, but for a state full of granola eating, Birkenstock wearing tree huggers, it was big news at the time.

It was ironic at the time since Coors was pushing the whole idea of brewing beer from cool, clear Rocky Mountain stream water.....while they trashed that same water.
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Still seems odd since they have one of the States largest water treatment plants and did back then, also. I grew up in Golden. Well kinda. We moved a number of times but that was one place anyway.

We always found it funny they'd claim "Rocky Mountain spring water"...

I suppose somewhere way uphill there's a Spring but that river running through Golden is all snow melt and a little elk ****. LOL. (Explains the taste, eh? Haha!)

If they had a lot of toxins being dumped it would likely have been from the porcelain plant and not the brewery, if it was even true. I doubt it really, considering that water has always been part of Denver's drinking water supply. They've always been under the hairy eyeball of Denver Water.

But like I said, Rocky Flats was just up the road and was incinerating nuclear material in a location that's the windiest possible place in the Front Range until you get to Wyoming. Haha. Yay Cold War!

Sorry, fun side topic. Carry on, thread! Carry on! ;)
 
Took up a friend's wife as a surprise bday present from him. I've never seen someone so giddy to be in a plane! The two of them have had a horrible, horrible year... both of them lost their moms, their horse of 30+ years, their dog, a nephew... hell, they even lost the beautiful old oak tree in their backyard to lightning. It's been tragedy after tragedy after tragedy. Being able to use my new superpower - flying - to save the day, sure was a great feeling. At the end of the flight, she smiled, hugged me and said, "Thank you. This was the best day I've had in years."

Here are some of the pictures she took -

At 4,500 feet over the Quabbin Reservoir.
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We did a little maneuvering over her farm. She waved to her horses :)
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The Connecticut River. Can see the small airstrip of one of the airports we flew into/out of.
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We also flew out of one that was not so small...
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And finally...
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Yours truly! This was kind of a big day for me... I flew the first plane I soloed in over to the first airport I ever flew out of. Felt all grown up :)

Definitely one of my best flying days to date. Plus, it was great seeing how much happiness the experience brought to someone who really needed it.
 
That is an awesome story! I really enjoy taking friends and family up flying too. It is really special when you can give someone a great experience like that.
 
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